German Federal Intelligence Service accuses Russia of espionage
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Germany has included Russia, China and Iran among the "players" engaged in espionage against Berlin, according to the agency's annual report.
The document says that Russian special foreign operation services have invested a lot of financial and organizational resources for its activities against Germany. The agency emphasizes that such attacks affect all areas, including the economy and politics. “The scale of the problem increased massively with the use of cyberspace” added the German federal intelligence agency.
They noted that the main efforts of Russian special services are focused on Germany's foreign policy and its allies in NATO and the EU. According to the German foreign intelligence, among the means used by Russia for propaganda in Germany, there are social networks, state-sponsored funds and institutions, as well as Russian state-owned media, including television channels, radio stations and Internet publications.
In 2016, the head of the German counterintelligence Hans-Georg Maassen expressed his concern that Moscow could influence the outcome of the parliamentary elections in 2017. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed reports about Moscow’s plans to interfere with the German elections as “nonsense".
During the federal elections in September 2017, the Angela Merkel’s conservative block received support from only 33.5% of voters showing the worst results throughout its history.